When Jesus came to earth He intended to do more than establish a system of beliefs. He came to create a new way of living. Our beliefs and convictions are an essential part of the lifestyle that we have been called to live, but there is more to our discipleship than talking and listening. There is doing. There is living. There is lighting up a dark world. We live in a dark world that is full of things that grieve our hearts and the heart of God. The Bible teaches us that God had every right to leave the world darkened and dead, but He didn’t. Instead He sent His Son to light the flame of a new way of living life. We know this as living in Jesus. Jesus described of this “way” of living life like this: "You are the light that gives light to the world. A city that is built on a hill cannot be hidden. And people don't hide a light under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand so the light shines for all the people in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5.14-16 [NCV]) Jesus is not just speaking about thinking something; He is talking about being something. “You are the light of the world”, so let your light shine. Let the life of Jesus be evident in the way that you live your life. Jesus says that this “way” of living life will begin to shed light on … what? On what God is really like. The darkness of this world is because there are so many wrong beliefs about who God is and what He is like. People don’t see the real Jesus unless they see it by the light of the way that we live our lives. My prayer for Gilead is that we will ever be a gathering of true believers who cast light on who God is by the way that we live.I want to praise God for one instance in which He has used us to shed light on Himself. Last Saturday, many of our brothers and sisters went to a local gas station to give a gift of gasoline to some of the patrons and to serve them by pumping their gas and washing their windshields. Our hope was that in so doing we could demonstrate the unmerited love and compassion of God to some people who need to see that about Him. We could have simply told them about God’s grace and love, but we wanted to go even further by showing them that grace. What a blessing it was to serve in the name of Jesus and trust that He would use our work to be a witness to the world. How encouraging it was to see fellow believers giving up precious hours out of their Saturday afternoon in order to “show” Jesus to some strangers.
One doesn’t always receive feedback on an outreach like this, but this week we received the following message from Wanda from Louisville:
“I want to thank you and your Church again for the warm welcome plus twenty cents off at a local E’town filling station on Saturday. I was on my way back to Louisville after stopping to visit my aunt at the nursing home when I knew that I needed a fill up before getting on the interstate. Before getting to the station I noticed the price per gallon. WOW! Yes, twenty cents cheaper than what I had been seeing since I left Green county earlier that day. Also, your Church members were very visible to anyone driving by or approaching.
Anyway, so I stopped because I needed gas. As I waited my turn, they explained their mission and task for the day. I really appreciated their time and effort to spread the word of their Church and fellowship. I’m sure that the youth were learning to step out into the world that day. I am sorry that I live too far to attend your Church as I am sure that you must be a friendly and loving Church.
Thanks again for this noticeable effort to spread the gospel. May God continue to bless your Church and membership.”
I hope that you find this message as encouraging as I did. This is just one of the many ways that God has been using our lives to light up the world, and I am excited by it. My prayer is that we will burn even brighter in the future. I don’t just want people to hear about our Father; I want them to see Him in us.